In a music landscape saturated with saccharine holiday fare, Ever More Nest’s latest offering, Merry Little Thing EP, arrives like a fresh snowfall on scorched earth. The three-song collection, due November 22, strips away the tinsel to reveal what the season really feels like: sometimes joyous, sometimes lonely, always complicated. Underneath a jaunty take on a good-for-nothing spouse, a somber reflection on holidays spent alone, and a sentimental classic lies a heartwarming Americana holiday experience that gifts a little something for everyone.
“For some people, the holiday season offers an escape,” Wilburn reflects. “But holidays aren’t universally ‘happy,’ and the emphasis on togetherness can make people who lack family or community feel more alone than ever.” With Merry Little Thing EP, Ever More Nest offers something more valuable than escape: recognition, understanding, and ultimately, hope.
These reflections crystallize beautifully across the EP’s economical runtime. Lead single “Back in the Doghouse on Christmas” (out November 1) cleverly subverts classic country tropes, following a queer couple’s marital tribulations with the same wit Nashville’s hitmakers have long reserved for straight relationships. Meanwhile, the contemplative “Where Do Holidays Go” speaks to anyone who’s ever felt alone during the season of togetherness. The EP closes with a deliberately faithful rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” complete with the original, more melancholic lyrics Judy Garland sang in Meet Me in St. Louis.
Recorded in New Orleans thanks to a grant from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Merry Little Thing EP maintains Ever More Nest’s signature alt-country sound while incorporating subtle seasonal flourishes. The project reunites Wilburn with legendary producer Mark Bingham, who helmed her first album as Kelcy Mae in 2007. Bingham’s atmospheric “space guitars” create evocative bedding for the material, with John Fohl (Dr. John, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies) on electric guitars, lap steel, and mandolin.
This isn’t Wilburn’s first foray into holiday music. In 2015, she wrote “Christmas with You (Merry Me),” a queer marriage proposal disguised as a holiday lament. After the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, she released the holiday single (under the moniker Kelcy Mae), which spawned a celebratory music video and led to Wilburn hosting the first-ever Merry Songwriter Revue in New Orleans. The event has since evolved into a biennial concert featuring Ever More Nest and local artists who write new, original holiday songs and perform them alongside carols and classics of all genres and eras.
Ever More Nest’s “Lucindaesque” style has been steadily building momentum since debuting with 2018’s The Place That You Call Home and 2022’s Out Here Now, receiving critical acclaim from NBC News, Guitar Girl Magazine, Wide Open Country, Glide Magazine, Americana Highways, The Bluegrass Situation, No Depression, The Boot, Rainbow Rodeo, and many more. Recent highlights include appearances at Folk Alliance International, SXSW 2024 (standby official artist), AMERICANAFEST, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The project has garnered Best Alt-Country Artist & Album nominations from the Independent Music Awards and has been named a Semi-Finalist in the International Songwriting Competition twice.
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“Wilburn’s vocal straddles the affecting lines between weariness and prettiness, delivering the kind of performance we couldn’t forget if we wanted to.” – Country Queer
“Ever More Nest writes music that croons and rolls over relatable angst and longing for serenity and peace. You can hear it from the vocals through the rhythm to the instruments’ fluid unfolding.” – Americana Highways
“Exhilarating…a lovely album…fearlessly pursuing emotional truths. At times despairing, at others ebullient, this stirring album looks at the ways a soul slips, falls, and gets back up, always stumbling toward the light.” — No Depression
“Summons a new voice in the musical world of New Orleans, that put the song and lyrics first and lets the rhythmic foundation naturally follow. The band runs with the poetic freedom of Lilly Hiatt while conjuring the rocking anthems of Heartless Bastards in a tight wound of poignant Americana.” — Glide Magazine
“Equally influenced by the gospel, country, and blues of her Bible Belt hometown as she was by the emotional rawness of the artists that consumed her generation like Radiohead, Tori Amos, and PJ Harvey.” – Rock and Roll Globe